November 26, 2014

Today is hump day of my MTC stay! I am officially halfway done. I love the MTC but I can see how missionaries get a little stir crazy here because I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy too. I don't mind the schedule and everything, and I'm still learning a ton, but I am getting tired of living in the same square mile all day every day. I am so excited for this Christmas package!! I loved the tree lighting ceremony. Every one looks great! And Sugie is so cute. I laughed so hard at the story about the dead rat, it just means that she loves you Mom! haha. That aquarium trip sounded awesome! I'm really jealous of all the hermanas in my district because they're all going to the south of Argentina, close to Antarctica, which means PENGUINS! But, Mendoza is the best so I'm pumped. I'm glad to hear that everyone is well and plugging along. Get better Ellie! I've had a sore throat for the past few days, but I hope it doesn't turn into anything worse. I would totally say hi to Devin, but I haven't seen him since he got here, and I think that he might have already left. I'm glad to hear that the ward is doing well. I kind of don't have a concept of time anymore. All the days are the same, except Sundays and Wednesdays are a little bit different.

 We didn't get to go to the temple this morning because it's closed due to thanksgiving, but that's alright because we have a really awesome day tomorrow. We have a general authority devotional in the morning, in which I (and the rest of the MTC choir ;) are singing "Come Thou Fount". It sounds really awesome with like 500 voices, but I will always like Dad's version the best! Then we have like a huge Thanksgiving lunch and a service project and sack dinner in the classroom and then we get to watch a movie!! Probably like The restoration or something haha. I did get to watch The Testaments on Sunday, it was awesome. Oh my goodness, guess who came to speak at the devotional last night....ELDER OAKS! It was so cool. We sang "Nearer my God to thee" in the choir and our choir director told us the context behind the lyrics. It's about the story of Jacob, and how he travels into the desert and sleeps on a rock and then has the dream about the ladder and basically receives his endowment from angels in his dream. I think it's in Genesis 28. Anyways, really cool story and message about how we become closer to God through our trials and hard times. So yeah, Elder Oaks was awesome! He spoke about our purpose as missionaries and how to lose yourself in service (Matthew 16:24-27?). It was super sweet and the Spirit was strong. A couple things from his talk: 1. We must serve because we love God and His Children. In order to serve with all of our heart and mind, we must be free from selfish ambition. 2. A quote by Mother Teresa, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." 3. He gave this really great analogy about being an instrument in the hands of God, comparing a missionary to a pen. He said he wants the pen to be able to perform his work, his way, on his timetable. He doesn't want the pen to say, "I'm too tired" or "i can't write, it's my p-day" haha, we need to be filled with what's necessary to fulfill our purpose (ink for the pen and Testimony of the gospel for missionaries).

Anyways, another fun thing, my companions and I are performing in sacrament meeting on Sunday, "Where can i turn for peace?". It's gonna be good. Also, I played four-square in gym yesterday, and then the elders in my district gave me the nickname of "The Plumber", because I apparently "flush people out" hahaha I don't know, they're all crazy elders. 

So a couple of experiences I've had with my investigators. One day, we were preparing to teach Pablo a lesson, and I was having a hard time focusing or feeling the spirit while we were preparing. So my comp asked me to say the prayer before we knocked on the door, and I burst into tears during the prayer. I know that the spirit prompted her to ask me so that we could resolve everything in order to have the spirit. So I just talked it out and we refocused and had another prayer, and then we went in and I could already feel the huge difference having the Spirit made. We were about to go into that lesson without the spirit and we would not have been able to teach effectively. Thankfully, Heavenly Father knew how to direct us to refocus and reinvite the Spirit. I'm so glad we did because the lesson was so awesome. We taught the message of the restoration, just really simply and then we asked Pablo to say a prayer with us, kneeling, and ask Heavenly Father if our message was true. It was so beautiful to see a child of God reconciling with their Father in Heaven, coming humbly in prayer, seeking truth. We also had another cool lesson with Julio. We only had like 20 minutes, so we taught him the Plan of Salvation really simply and asked him to read 2 Nephi 2. Then after we were done, we asked him to have a kneeling prayer with us and ask if our message was true. We also asked him to pause for about 30 seconds after the prayer and pay attention to his feelings and thoughts. So awesome. After that we asked him how he felt and he said he felt really good and peaceful, and then we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and have the feeling always! And he said yes! So basically, I love missionary work. 

So here's a video of my comps and I playing you smell like, I taught them! haha

Love y'all and have a delicious thanksgiving!!! 

Love,

Hermana Rach